All this is represented as having gone on without any infringement on the rights of the chief pastor, of whom there was a regular series. Lists of them are pre served in many of the more ancient churches, ascending, on what may be regarded sufficient historical testimony, and with few breaks in the continuity, even into the second and first centuries. Bishops are, however, found in churches for which this high antiquity cannot be claimed. In these cases they are sup posed to be either in countries which did not fully receive Christianity in the very earliest times, or that the bishops or chief pastors delegated a portion of that su perior authority which they possessed over the other presbyters to the presbyter settled in one of the churches which was originally subordinate. This is supposed to have been the origin of the distinction among the chief pastors of bishops and archbishops, there being still a slight re servation of superintendency and au thority in the original over the newly created chief pastors.
If this view of the origin of the episco pal character and office be correct, it will follow that originally there was no essen tial difference between the bishop and the presbyter, and also that the duties which belong to the pastor of a Christian congregation were performed by the bishop. But when the increase of the number of Christians rendered assistants necessary, and this became a permanent institution, then the chief pastor would divest himself of those simpler and easier duties, which occasioned nevertheless a great consumption of time, as a matter at once of choice and of necessity. Having to think and to consult for other congre gations beside that which was peculiarly his own, and to attend generally to schemes for the protection or extension of Christianity, he would have little time remaining for catechizing, preaching, baptizing, or other ordinary duties especially when it was added that he had to attend councils, and even was called to assist and advise the temporal govern ors in the civil and ordinary of state. When Christianity, instead of being persecuted, was countenanced and encouraged by the temporal authorities, it was soon perceived that the bishop would be a very important auxiliary to the temporal authorities ; while in ages when few besides ecclesiastical persons had any share of learning, or what we call mental cultivation, it is manifest that the high offices of state, for the per formance of the duties of which much discernment and much information were required, must necessarily be filled by ecclesiastics, who might be expected, as we know to have been the case, to unite spiritual pre-eminence with their high political offices. The Lord High Chan cellor of England was always an eccle siastic, and generally a bishop, to the time of Sir Thomas More, in the reign of Henry VIII.
The functions which belong to the bishop are in all countries nearly the same. We shall speak of them as they exist in the English Church. 1. Con firmation, when children on the thres hold of maturity ratify or confirm the en gagement entered into by their sponsors at baptism, which is done in the presence of a bishop, who may be understood in this ceremony to recognise or receive into the Christian church the persons born within his diocese. 2. Ordination, or the appointment of persons deemed by him properly qualified, to the office of deacon in the church, and afterwards of presbyter or priest. 3. Consecration of presbyters when they are appointed to the office of bishop. 4. Dedication, or consecration of edifices erected for the performance of Christian services or of ground set apart for religious purposes, as especially for the burial of the dead.
5. Administration of the effects of per sons deceased, of which the bishop is the proper guardian, until some person has proved before him a right to the distribu tion of those effects either as the next of kin or by virtue of the testament of the deceased. 6. Adjudication in questions respecting matrimony and divorce. 7. Institution or collation to vacant churches in his diocese. 8. Superintendence of the conduct of the several pastors in his diocese, in respect of morals, of residence, and of the frequency and proper perform ance of the public services of the church. And, 9, Excommunication ; and, in the case of ministers, deprivation and degra dation.
These are the most material of the functions which have been retained by the Christian bishops, or, if we adopt the theory of apostolic succession, which have from the beginning been exercised by them. To these it remains to be added, that in England they are the medium of communication between the king and the people in 'respect of all affiurs connected with religion ; and that they are a constituent part of that great council of the realm which is called Par liament.
Whatever kind of moot, assembly, or council for the advice of the king there was in the earliest times of the English kingdom, the bishops were chief persons in it. The charters of the early Norman kings usually run in the form that they are granted by the assent and advice of the bishops as well as others ; and when the ancient great council became moulded into the form of the modern parliament, the bishops were seated, as we now see them, in the Upper House. It is argued that they sit as barons [ BARN ], but the writ of summons runs to them as bishops of such a place, without any re ference to the temporal baronies held by them. Down to the period of the Re formation they were far from being the only ecclesiastical persons who had seats among the hereditaiy nobility of the land, many abbots and priors having been sum moned also, till the houses over which they presided were dissolved, and their office thus extinguished. Henry VIII. created at that time six new bishoprics, and gave the bishops placed in them seats in the same assembly. But before the nation had adjusted itself in its new position, there was a powerful party ' raised in the country, who maintained that a government of the church by bishops was not accordant to the primi tive practice, and who sought to bring back the administration of ecclesiastical affairs to the state in which there was an equality among all ministers, and where the authority was vested in synods and assemblies. Churches upon this model had been formed at Geneva and in Scot land; and when this party became pre dominant in the parliament of 1642, a bill was passed for removing the bishops from their seats, to which the king gave a reluctant and forced assent. It was soon followed by an entire dissolution of the Episcopal Church. At the Re storation this act was repealed, or de clared invalid, and the English bishops have ever since had seats in the House of Lords. They form the Lords Spiritual, and constitute one of the three estates of the realm, the Lords Temporal and the Commons (the tiers eat) being the other two. Out of this has arisen the question, now laid at rest, whether a bill has passed the House in a constitutional manner, if it has happened that no Lord Spiritual was present at any of its stages. When the House becomes a court for the trial of a peer charged with a capital offence, the bishops withdraw, it being held unsuitable to the character of mi nisters of mercy and peace to intermeddle in affairs of blood.